Faber et Filia
by Hoenn Master96
Summary: A single act can change the course of one's life; be it an act of charity or one of evil. When a lonely man saves a young girl from certain death, it begins a series of events he never imagined could happen to him. A contemplative look into the world of R.W.B.Y.
1. Chapter One

Faber et Filia

(The Blacksmith and the Young Girl)

An R.W.B.Y. Fan-Fiction

Written by Hoenn Master, and edited by dashboardgecko

"A strong man stands up for himself. A _stronger_ man stands up for others." Ben- Barnyard (Yes. I'm going there.)

**Disclaimer: I do not under any circumstance possess the setting of this story; it is the property of Rooster Teeth. If I did own it, it would likely be significantly worse than it is today. I also do not own the character of Blair, who belongs to Wishmur Publishing House.**

* * *

It was cold. It was not an average coldness, either, but rather, the kind of cold in which one can feel it seeping into his very bones, no matter how thick one's clothing. The crunches of wheels over dead leaves, along with the steady clopping of horse's hooves, were the only things to break the silence which had fallen upon the Forest of Forever Fall.

A single, horse-drawn carriage, filled with supplies, was the only thing moving in the stillness and silence, apart from the swaying branches and the dancing leaves. A lone traveler with a thick cloak wrapped tightly around his body and the pair of horses drawing the heavy wagon behind them were the only living beings in sight. With a sigh, a cloud of steam escaping his hood, the traveler slipped an icy string of beads into his cloak pocket, and spoke to his horses in a deep, soothing tone.

"How are you two holding up, eh?"

The horses, of course, remained silent except for their snorting as they carried on, but the traveler was used to that.

"Well, at least you're warmer than I am. Still, this mist isn't letting up; I guess we've gone pretty far north by now..."

Just as the traveler finished the sentence, a snap and a loud scream rent the air, startling both of the horses. After a few frightening seconds of bolting, their master managed to calm them down, and without another word, leapt off of the cart, his black cloak trailing behind as his heavy boots sprinted across the frosty ground towards the scream. With quick, quiet movements, the man picked his way through the thick trees just off of the path, the only sound being made above the noise of the forest being the occasional crunch of a small pile of dead leaves.

After a couple of minutes of searching, the traveler was beginning to conclude that he must have heard things. He was just placing his hand on the grip of a large, heavy caliber pistol which rested on his hip just above the sheathe of a plain looking sword, and prepared to go back and defend the cart from possible bandits. He had hardly taken a step, however, when he spotted a clearing filled with about half a dozen of the largest black creatures of Grimm he'd ever seen.

They were made of the purest black; the traveler's own cloak looked grey in comparison, even. The impossible darkness was only broken by terrifyingly white and red mask-like growths on their faces, oddly-placed spikes of matching color lining their forelegs, and massive claws which could rend flesh as easily as a white hot knife through warm butter.

The truly grisly scene, however, was not the creatures themselves, though they ordinarily would be.

No, instead of the monsters themselves, in the center of the clearing lay three bodies: a large, barrel-chested man, with thick brown hair stained with blood; a woman with equally brown hair in a flyaway style, with a gaping hole in her stomach, staining the ground a more sickening red than the leaves could ever have done; and between them, a little girl, no more than nine, crying her eyes out silently.

An Ursa, one of the great number of the dark creatures surrounding the little girl, strode up to finish the family off.

The traveler never gave it the chance, however.

With a whoosh of displaced air, the figure leapt out of the trees, catching the monsters off guard, and with a flash of steel and fire, drew a straight long sword. It was plain in design, the hilt undecorated aside from the deep blue leather grip and the small chamber containing a red crystal at the base of the blade. With a shout and a burst of speed, the sword burst into blue flames and the figure charged into the center of the clearing, cutting down one of the shadows as he made his way to stand over the terrified girl.

"If you want to kill any more people, it'll have to be me before anyone else! Come get some!" the figure shouted in a deep, bellowing voice.

The Ursa, which had been too surprised to fight back until that moment, all began rushing in. Without a second's hesitation, the figure gripped the sword all the tighter, and suddenly the same blue flames which enveloped the sword danced across first the arm holding it, then the chest, and finally the entire body was coated in flames. With a primal roar, the figure, almost moving faster than the untrained eye could follow, leaped from enemy to enemy, not allowing even one to get closer than ten feet of the decimated family.

Two Ursa tried to attack at the same time from opposite ends of the circle of protection the traveler was weaving. Thinking quickly, he took one of his hands off of the hilt of his sword, dancing out of the way of the massive claws coming down upon where he was a second before, and, pulling out the heavy caliber pistol from its holster and taking aim, fired three rounds in rapid succession at the charging beast on the other side of the clearing.

The resulting explosions sent the off-balance beast to the ground, where it fumbled to get back upright. Sensing the opportunity, the second Ursa brought down its claws once again, this time meeting the edge of the traveler's hood, almost catching his face and shredding the hood to ribbons.

The man stood, an angry expression written across his wintry blue eyes and somewhat thick, dirty blonde eyebrows. However, the Ursa didn't have time to register this, as the man charged forward and drove his sword into its neck and pulled back. The action ripped its short skull in half length-wise. Instead of blood, however, the figure dissolved into cobalt blue ashes, which scattered in the freezing breeze. The man, however, didn't wait for this process to complete, instead charging at the Ursa he'd slowed down. It had risen to its feet, and was bringing down a massive paw to smite the cowering girl.

The blow never landed.

With a great grunt of effort, the sandy blonde held his sword over his head, the weapon bending almost comically to hold back the weight of the blow, but it stubbornly refused to break. The flames along the warrior himself began to vanish as he lost energy in the losing battle, rapidly becoming too tired to increase his strength and speed. With a strained grunt, the traveler tilted his sword downwards, causing the full weight of the Ursa to slide sideways, once again falling onto its side. This time, the warrior didn't turn to fight another opponent, but picked up his pistol from where he'd dropped it, and unloaded the rest of the clip right into the flailing shadow's temple, killing it instantly.

The warrior panted from exertion, and dropped to one knee, keeping a steady eye upon the last three Ursa, which were circling dangerously around them. Acting instinctively, the stranger placed his hands on the ground, quickly reloaded his pistol, and began to concentrate.

Soon, a dark patch of dead grass and dirt began to spread around the blonde man as the little girl sobbed into her parent's bodies. The Ursa, sensing a shift in the balance of power, all charged at once, causing the girl to scream in terror. With another roar, the blonde leapt to his feet, and brought his hands together, arcs of cobalt energy passing between his thickly gloved fingers like a Jacob's ladder. Almost instantly, several baseball-sized spheres of energy appeared in his hands, which he threw at the oncoming enemies with deadly accuracy. Each of the spheres either hit just in front of, or directly on, the Ursa, stumbling them and granting the traveler enough time to pick up his sword and pistol.

With a loud series of clicks and whirrs, the pistol began to transform into a flare-gun-sized revolver. The six chambers ejected the now too-small bullets, and instead, the blonde loaded what were essentially grenades into them. With a shout, he braced his arm and fired as quickly as he could, launching all six massive red explosives at the Ursas within a couple of seconds.

A fine red cloud hung over the decimated area not eight feet from the little girl, who had fainted in the fright of the moment. Immediately, the gun reduced its caliber, and the warrior reloaded the dropped bullets. Then, he slowly edged towards the crater he'd made. Inside were the dissolving remains of the Ursa, though one remained alive. It was clearly wounded severely, and a quick bullet down the creature's ear ended its misery.

After making sure all of the other monsters were dead, the mysterious traveler sighed, looking at the decimated family once again. "I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner," the man whispered to the dead parents, his voice now laced with sorrow instead of rage.

The girl, who he had initially worried had died due to the amount of blood on her dress, was safe, sleeping between the bodies of the two who gave their lives to protect her.

Still, it hadn't occurred to the stranger until that very moment what to do with the child. Initially, he had only had to goal of protecting people in mind, but now he wasn't sure what to do. Yes, he knew he'd have to care for the child, at least until he could get her to an orphanage; it would be counterproductive and evil to leave her to fend for herself and be killed by something else. So, with a resigned heart, he took off his cloak and draped it over the sleeping girl, and set her aside to rest while he dug what he assumed to be her parents' graves.

Upon turning the woman over, however, he noticed a small bundle at her feet, and, with a lurch of sickening realization, that an almost newborn infant lay dead under her skirts. The hardened warrior, who had both seen and dealt out death before, upon seeing the baby's sickeningly disfigured face, turned and retched into the crater where the ashes of the shadows lay, a feeling of the deepest sorrow wrenching his gut painfully.

Once he had settled himself, and had retrieved his cart to get tools to mournfully dig the graves, the man placed the bodies of the girl's family into them with all the respect he could give. Just as he was about to start filling them in, though, he looked at the little girl, who was beginning to stir from her slumber. The traveler sighed, and stood in front of the girl and waited until she fully awakened with a frightened squeak.

"W-who are you?! Where's my mom and dad?!" the girl's voice was somewhat lower than the man expected, but then again, he'd only heard her scream in terror.

"My name is Richard Brown, young lady," the man introduced himself solemnly. "As for your parents, they are resting on the other side of my wagon."

The little girl got up quickly and looked suspiciously at the very tall sandy blonde man. His eyes were of a grey blue, but there was also a hint of green near the pupils. The sword and pistol on his right hip, however, put her on edge, as well as the silvery blue scarf covering his face. "Why am I over here instead of with them?"

Richard sighed sadly, and motioned to the girl's side, which had become uncovered and exposed the swathe of blood. "Your parents… Died in the fighting. I couldn't save them, or your brother. I'm sorry."

The little girl looked absolutely devastated, and for good reason. "N-no! You're lying! Daddy is strong! He's fought the Grimm forever! And mommy helped him, too, even though she just had Hilbert! Let me see them!" her voice was rapidly becoming hysterical, and Richard, being a kind hearted man, allowed the girl to sprint to her family's graves and see them.

He kept her a reasonable distance back, though, as he didn't want the child to hurt herself.

* * *

It took several cold, depressing hours to get the girl to allow Richard to bury her family, but once that was done, he built a fire and heated a stew, but not before heating some cocoa for the shivering girl and giving it to her. She wouldn't drink it, although she held it to her body to keep warm. At any other time, Richard would have been impressed with the girl's intelligence, but the sun was going down, and it was only going to get colder in this extreme northern stretch of the forest.

"Listen, young lady," Richard started kindly, "I need you to drink that before it gets cold; you're going to freeze to death tonight if you don't."

Spotting the even more suspicious glare she sent him, Richard held his hand out for the mug. "Alright, if you want, I'll drink out of it first, so you know there's no poison in it, alright?"

The girl looked untrusting, but reluctantly handed the mug back to Richard, who took a large sip. "Ah, thank you. Now do you believe me?"

The girl looked satisfied, and began gulping the hot drink down. Thankfully, it wasn't still scalding, but the perfect temperature for drinking.

Realizing that he didn't know this girl's name, he asked, kindly, "And what is your name, young lady?"

The girl slowly lowered the drained mug, a mustache of chocolate left behind from how fast she had drunk the beverage as she did so. At any other time, the scene would have been cute, but the thick tear tracks and depressed face only served to heighten the sense of depression emanating from the girl. "My name is Blair Litchenburg."

Richard nodded kindly, gently taking the mug from the traumatized girl. "That's a pretty name, Miss Litchenburg. Would you care for some stew?"

The brown haired girl simply bit her lip and shook her head. Richard understood; he didn't have much of an appetite either, and surely Blair felt many times worse than he did. Regardless, there was one final order of business for the blonde warrior to take care of.

"Miss Litchenburg, I know you may not wish to, but I must bring you with me for the time being."

Blair froze in place, the distrustful glare locked firmly back into place. "Why?"

Richard had expected this type of reaction, and didn't miss a beat. "Because I cannot simply leave you behind now that your family is gone. If I were to do that, it would have been better to leave you to die in the first place."

The way he spoke about death was distant, and some would likely say cruel to someone who had experienced so keen a loss that recently. However, the man wasn't one to skirt around issues if flat honesty would achieve the same result in a shorter amount of time.

Blair looked at Richard with eyes that swam with tears, and the blonde privately wondered if he'd been too direct in dealing with the situation. Still, the young girl spoke with a voice which echoed nothing but pain and sadness. "Maybe I _want_ to die… There's nobody who'll want me, anyway," Tears began spilling over her eyelids, and they only seemed to grow in number as time went on.

Richard didn't pry any deeper; he now knew enough to guess that either her village cast her out, along with her family, or her village had been decimated by the Grimm. Still, he couldn't let a child start thinking like that; if she did, he didn't want to picture the outcome. Doing the only thing he could think of, he inched closer to the sobbing girl, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't think that, Miss Litchenburg. I'll find a place where you'll always be loved and taken care of. Who wouldn't want a beautiful little girl like you?"

Blair slowed down her crying slightly and mumbled something as she wiped her eyes before asking softly, "Do you promise?"

The sheer weight of that question was not lost on the young man, and without hesitation, he knew what his answer was to be: "I promise."

Then the brown haired girl looked up at the man with absolute sincerity, and asked, "Pinky swear?"

Richard could only smile wanly at the pain and uncertainty in the request, but regardless, he linked his pinky with the girl's outstretched digit and shook their hands. "Pinky swear. Now, you need to go to sleep. We need to get up early tomorrow if we hope to make the nearest city by the day after tomorrow."

* * *

_**A.N.: Oh, look; it's another fan-fiction from Hoenn Master! Does this mean he's given up on his other stories?**_

_**No. No I have not.**_

_**I recently have become absolutely obsessed with R.W.B.Y. lately, and, as I have better things to do with my life, I decided that I could put them off to make a teaser story of sorts to test the waters for my next big idea in a new fandom. I won't be giving spoilers, but I think I've hit gold while talking to my good friend, Wishmur Publishing House, who insisted that I write this to the point that I was responding to her messages every five minutes, if not sooner, while I was writing it.**_

_**Regardless, this is, by a fair amount, the longest thing I've written yet, and I have to say, I'm glad I managed to get 2,700 words out this time. My only hope is that I can capture the feel that Rooster Teeth has managed to craft in their amazing tale.**_

_**Finally, I want to give a massive thank you to dashboardgecko, who has helped me along immensely by beta reading this for me, as well as providing insightful commentary on all of my stories.**_

_**Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot.**_


	2. Chapter Two

Faber et Filia Chapter Two

An R.W.B.Y. Fan-Fiction

Written by Hoenn Master, and edited by dashboardgecko

"In the darkness, we become what we most fear and revile; in God's light, we become what we are truly meant to be." -Myself

* * *

The morning dawned all too quickly for Richard's tastes, the alarm clock he'd set blaring to life with a loud ring. The blonde turned over in his sleeping bag to look at the small, one person tent he'd lent to his new passenger, sighing in annoyance as he did so. After a few more seconds of the alarm going off, Richard shut off the device to prepare an early breakfast as the sun peeked over the treetops.

In one fluid motion, Richard rolled out of his bedroll to his feet, his sword clenched tightly in his grip as he scanned the area for Grimm. Thankfully, there were none, and everything was in its place just as he'd left it the previous night. With a chuckle at the paranoia he'd developed while traveling, Richard quickly put on a fresh set of clothes and was just planning on rebuilding the fire when a thought struck him: Blair had no spare clothes.

He'd looked through her family's belongings after the battle, but most of it was either shredded by the Ursa, or else covered in blood and unusable. He'd deliberated hard on taking what little jewelry the family owned, but eventually decided that everything of theirs rightfully belonged to Blair, being the only living member of the family remaining.

Regardless, all of the clothes that weren't absolutely tattered were soaked with blood and the pungent stench of death. Needless to say, Richard had thrown them onto the fire immediately. But, the problem still remained that Blair had nothing to wear. Richard absent-mindedly built a fire canopy over the few coals remaining and fed it small doses of his Aura energy to bolster it, while he decided that Blair would simply have to wear some of his clothing for the time being. It wasn't ideal, but it was certainly better than wearing a blood-soaked dress until they got to a town, especially since that would only cause her to remember yesterday's battle.

A sudden jolt of pain returned him to the task at hand just in time to pull his hands away from the rapidly growing fire. Richard hissed in pain for a moment, then chuckled and shook his hands out to relieve the burning sensation before retrieving some left over stew, getting everything in order for a quick breakfast.

Once the food was simmering in a pot suspended over the fire, the blonde man faced another obstacle: getting Blair awake and changed into the clothes he had waiting in the cart. Figuring there was no way around it, he called Blair's name through the tent walls until he heard the rustling of a body getting up and moving around in the small space.

Richard spoke in a direct, but gentle, manner. "Good morning, Miss Litchenburg; it's time to get up and have breakfast."

The brunette girl simply poked her head out of the flap of the tent, her hair sticking up at odd angles and an ugly look in her eyes. She had clearly been up until very late at night, either from crying, or some other reason, Richard wasn't sure. "I don't wanna eat. I'm not hungry."

Undaunted, the blonde pressed on. "Alright, but you won't be able to eat until lunch if you don't. Anyway, I have a change of clothes here for you. I figured you'd want to get out of that bloodied dress and into something warmer."

The young girl simply looked at the neatly folded pile of clothes, consisting of a thick woolen coat, a warm looking hat with fur-lined ear flaps, rolled up sweat pants, and heavy socks that looked like they'd go up past her knees if she put them on. "Nuh uh. I won't put those on."

_"She went from depression to defiance? Or, is this just an outlet for her feelings? Guess I'll just have to deal with it…"_ Richard thought confusedly, one of his eyebrows rising.

"I'll go to the other side of the clearing if you want. Please believe me; I have no intention of peeking."

Blair simply glared at Richard. "No. I don't want your clothes!"

Richard calmly brought his right palm to his face, and sighed in exasperation before returning his attention to the still glaring girl before him. "Miss Litchenburg, those are warmer than your dress, and besides, I can't bring you to town with you soaked in blood. That would only cause trouble, not to mention the fact that you'd be cold the entire time."

At that, Blair took another long look at the clothes as Richard laid them at her feet and took a few steps back. Finally, the blonde dropped the straw that broke the camel's back. "If you get changed, I'll let you ride the horses for as long as you want while we're traveling."

Blair's eyes automatically flicked to the two handsome chestnut Clydesdales hitched to the cart and tossing their manes to keep flies off one another. After a few more seconds, the brunette sighed and leaned out of the tent just far enough to pick up the clothes, pulling them in, and remaining silent as the flap zipped closed.

Richard sighed, be it from relief or frustration, he couldn't be certain, and opened up the pot of stew, taking off his scarf after drawing out a bowlful and retrieving a thick slice of bread from a bag in his cart. He sat down near the fire and took a few moments to say grace before digging into the meal, careful not to burn his tongue. Just as the blonde man scraped the last of the stew onto what was left of his bread and popped it into his mouth, Blair stepped out of the tent dressed in the oversized clothes Richard had lent her.

Thankfully, Blair seemed to have composed herself; her eyes were still misty, and she still didn't look like she'd had enough sleep, but she was at least making an effort to overcome the nigh insurmountable task before her. Richard maintained a neutral expression and nodded, acknowledging her presence. "Do you feel like eating now, Miss Litchenburg? Or would you prefer to wait longer?"

Blair only bit her lip in response and strode over to the cart before getting into the seat without a word. Richard sighed and dumped a bucket filled with dirt onto the fire, smothering it. Then, he grabbed what small amount of stew was left, and dumped it into the hole where the bucket's dirt originated. Finally, Richard picked up the almost empty water skin he'd just been drinking out of, and scoured out the pot with the last of the water he'd allowed himself.

Once his task was accomplished, Richard quickly broke camp: the tent was folded in short order, the fire was double checked to make sure it was really out, the bedding was rolled up, and everything was stored tightly in a compartment under the seat. After locking the last box firmly in place, Richard climbed into the front of cart, not entirely surprised to see Blair curled up with her knees to her chin on the other side of the comfortable bench. With a short whistle and a wave of the long whip lying in a holder on his side, Richard started the wagon at a moderate pace, soon leaving the clearing behind and finding the road again. Richard heard Blair sniffle and wipe her eyes silently, prompting the blonde to place a comforting hand on her shoulder for a moment before returning his attention to the road.

An oppressive silence fell between the two travelers with nothing but the sound of crunching leaves under horse's hooves and the wheels of the wagon to break it. Blair remained in a fetal position, the only sound she would make was an occasional sniffle, as well as small tears occasionally escaping her control and running down her face. Richard, however, rarely noticed this, as was always on his guard; he'd been ambushed more than once by bandits, and while he knew that the Ursa usually kept them at bay, that didn't discount the Ursa themselves as a threat. The young orphan sitting next to him was proof of that.

Thankfully, however, nothing happened for the rest of the day.

Just as the sun began to sink low into the west, however, a beautiful sight greeted the pair's eyes: far off in the distance, just over the treetops to the far southwest, stood the city of Vale in all of its shining glory. Richard, who was used to the sight of great cities, Vale in particular, was more concerned with how light his pockets were. After all, he'd left less than a week before, and hadn't been able to sell his products as well as he'd hoped in the next market on his list. Still, the police forces might be interested in some of his Dust products, though he doubted that very much, considering the Schnee Company's monopoly over the market.

Richard shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He needed to make camp. With a sigh, he stopped the horses near a clearing and quickly helped Blair out of the wagon. Though the blonde had tried to get the girl to speak, his attempts had fallen awkwardly flat, resulting in a mutual feeling of being drained of energy between the two. Thankfully, once the camp had been set and the dinner cooked, Blair finally accepted some food, and the two dug in heartily without a word.

* * *

The next morning, after Richard broke camp and had put away the last tent peg, Blair tugged at his sleeve. The blonde man blinked in surprise and looked at the girl, who, while still clearly depressed, didn't look quite so devastated now. "Yes, Miss Litchenburg? Did you need something?"

Blair looked somewhat uncomfortable, but pressed on. "Could I ride on one of the horses, Richard?"

Said blonde was taken aback for a moment, but quickly nodded. "Of course: let me help you onto Francis, as he's the most gentle of the pair."

With that, Richard boosted the brunette onto the massive horse's back, letting her settle before he got into the cart and started the team.

The day passed in a much more relaxed setting than the previous one had. Blair, who seemed to have relaxed somewhat, began acting more like a nine year-old than a shell-shocked war veteran, occasionally asking when they would be there, and requesting something to drink, which Richard gladly gave whenever she did.

By early afternoon, they passed the sign proclaiming that they were within Vale's city limits, and soon the air transitioned from light, fresh, and lively, to heavy with exhaust, fried goods, and the smell of population. The trees rapidly fell away until only lamp posts and the occasional tree were around them. As soon as they transferred from the dirt road to asphalt, Richard had Blair come down from her horse. Then, he spoke with caution in his voice, "Welcome to Vale, Blair, where caution must be taken at every turn. I want you to stay close to me while we're here."

Startled by the very serious tone in the tall man's voice, Blair nodded hesitantly as she sat down on the bench. "O-okay."

Richard nodded approvingly. "Good. We're heading into the residential district first to find a place to stay for the moment, and then, I'll begin looking for somewhere for you to live. Does that sound good to you?"

Blair looked uncomfortable, but responded. "Okay…" Richard took the lackluster response as born from residual trauma, and didn't comment.

Once they entered the city, however, Blair could not contain her amazement; the many colors reflected in the glass walls of office buildings, the seemingly impossible architecture in various business and residential areas, not to mention the sheer noise all served to command the brown haired girl's attention. Richard, however, saw very different things: he saw poor people in the alleyways living in cardboard boxes, men poised to rob the first person they thought looked weak, and a lack of community which was so important to the villages less than a day away through the forests.

Richard began looking around carefully, without locking eyes with anyone in the slowly increasing flow of traffic; he knew better than to draw attention to himself in such a busy place. Soon, however, the noise, combined with the constant motion, heat, and smell, began to make Blair feel a little queasy, and she scooted closer to Richard.

Thankfully, they soon found a decent hotel which could take care of Richard's horses. While not a common form of travel in Vale, the outer hotels were at least equipped to cater to the more traditionally minded travelers who came from more remote areas inside the kingdom, where technology hadn't quite caught up yet.

Once that was accomplished, Richard put on a pair of dark wraparound sunglasses and brought Blair back out into the crowded sidewalks, keeping a firm hold on her as he did so to prevent them from becoming separated. It was a good thing Blair was holding onto him as well, too, because with all of the jostling bodies, the brunette girl quickly became confused and disoriented, Richard's arm being the only thing that made any sense to her.

Eventually, they diverted into the doorway of a small Dust shop by the name of _'From Dust, Till Dawn'_ to get out of the crowd for a few minutes. The shop, as its name implied, was a late-night venue, and was therefore locked at that hour, but the outlet the door provided was a welcome reprieve nonetheless. Once they had taken their breather, they continued their trek into the city.

It seemed, however, that fate was conspiring against them.

At first, the crowd was held up with something only a short distance away, and several voices were yelling. Then, a woman screamed and suddenly people were scrambling away from the scene. With terrifying speed, gunfire started to rip through the air not far from where the crowd had been moments ago. Richard and Blair were pinned between people retreating and the people pressing forward behind them to see what the commotion was about. In that awful moment, Richard's grip on Blair slackened, and they were forced apart, the blonde swallowed by the crowd as Blair was shunted towards the fighting.

Richard felt something inside of him break; a foreign desire beyond mere concern burned through him the instant Blair's body slipped through his fingers. With a shout of fury and fear, Richard clawed desperately at the apathetic mass of bodies, shoving people out of the way, and even outright punching a man who dared to block his path intentionally. The blow sent the large man to the ground clawing at his face in agony before his sneering face could even formulate the word, 'no'.

After what felt like an eternity, Richard managed to desperately fight his way back to the scene of the shootout now taking place. There were around twelve men total involved; most of them had guns and were spraying bullets everywhere, while the others were supporting their comrades with melee attacks or otherwise rampaging around, trying to flank one another and cause as much damage as possible. The worst part by far, though, was not the battle itself, but rather, the fact that a certain brown haired girl was struggling against the hold of one of the fighters, a young man wearing a sleeveless shirt and baggy cargo pants, using her as a human shield.

With a roar of pure rage and a savage snarl on his face at the display of cowardice, Richard drew his sword and charged into the fray. Immediately, both sides began firing at him, but Richard had already put up a powerful Aura shield around himself, causing the Dust bullets to explode harmlessly on impact, and their mundane counterparts to simply ricochet off of it. However, only a few rounds were fired from either side before Richard was upon the man holding Blair hostage.

The moment he saw Richard coming at him, a flaming sword in his hand and a large gun on his belt, with a demonic expression seething around the his sunglasses, the combatant threw Blair into the middle of the fray in a panic and tried to draw the common Dust sword at his side. The action was futile, though; Richard suddenly began moving so fast that he was nearly impossible to see, even to trained eyes, and before the blade had even moved an inch out of its sheath, he was lifted up into the air by the throat; a grip of iron and an unnatural sensation of his strength being drained soon overwhelmed him.

"You think using little girls as a shield is acceptable?! I'LL RIP YOUR HEART OUT YOU COWARDLY SACK OF FILTH!" And without so much as a pause to watch the sheer terror flood into the eyes of the quickly dying man, Richard drove the full thirty six inches of his longsword into the man's heart, killing him instantly. The flames from his sword quickly evaporated the blood and cauterized the wound when he removed the weapon from the body. With a loud click, the Dust chamber located at the base of the blade opened up and ejected a spent flame crystal, causing the sword to immediately lose its flaming properties. Richard, with a practiced ease, selected a yellow electricity crystal from one of a number of small pouches on his belt and inserted it into the chamber. The click of the chamber's locking mechanism instantly caused cobalt blue sparks to emit along the blade, rather than flames.

The entire event took only half a minute, but both sides were instantly shaking in terror as the intimidating warrior charged back into the fight, bullets pinging off of his Aura shield as he systematically pistol whipped or used the flat of his blade to knock out all of the participants of the battle with extreme prejudice. By the time the police arrived, just five minutes after the fight had broken out, Richard had already knocked out the last participant, and was waiting patiently for their arrival. Blair, who was understandably terrified, was hanging onto Richard's side for dear life, crying her eyes out as he gently stroked her long hair with one hand, and kept the other ready on his sword hilt. Still, the blonde warrior was grateful that Blair hadn't seen him kill the man who had been holding her; he didn't want her to witness the side of him which could kill without remorse or mercy.

The police, who didn't know the situation, cautiously approached the pair, and Richard put his hands on the top of his head after motioning Blair to do the same to indicate their innocence. One officer moved towards the dead man, but soon backed off when he saw the charred remains of the wound Richard had inflicted upon him. Thankfully for the blonde warrior, one of the men on the side opposing the dead man's had a heavy caliber Dust rifle he'd been using, and the police simply assumed the wound came from that. Regardless, Richard and Blair were taken aside for questioning and separated, albeit with difficulty, as Blair didn't want to leave Richard's side.

The officer who took Richard aside was clearly an experienced, no-nonsense member of the force. "Now, tell me what happened, and what possessed you to go up against two rival gangs in the area."

Richard then elaborated the entire episode to the officer, and explained that he had become involved when one of the combatants kidnapped Blair to use as a human shield, and that he'd killed him defending Blair's escape. The officer nodded and assured Richard that he'd done nothing wrong considering the circumstances, and then walked away to the scene of the crime. It wasn't much longer before Blair, too, was released, and the brunette immediately latched herself to Richard's side and refused to let go.

Richard sighed in resignation, as the reality of the situation fully sunk into his mind; after all, he'd never be able to forget the feeling of terror that turned his blood to ice the moment he'd felt Blair be pulled from his grip.

_"God, what do you want me to do now?"_

* * *

_**A.N.**_

_**Well, that was a thing. Ladies and gentlemen, the lovely 'T' rating will be used to full effect, here, so events like this, while they won't be common, will still occur fairly often.**_

_**Again, a big thanks to Wishmur Publishing House for pushing me to complete this in a timely fashion, and to dashboardgecko for his invaluable input. I might be a while with the next chapter, as I have another story to take care of before this one.**_

_**Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot**_


End file.
